As part of the original Mac team, Kare created some of the first digital fonts, the UI for MacPaint and some of the most persistent icons in computing such as the trash can/bin, the save disk and the smiling Mac. Kare added to the UI an element of friendliness and emotion. By providing an image-based way to execute computer commands, the Macintosh made computers more intuitive and less intimidating. At the time, the notion of a GUI was revolutionary: just a few years prior to the Mac’s release, people could only interface with a computer through arcane commands written in code. Susan designed the icons for the Macintosh’s graphical user interface. The Mac was the first truly personal computer – one of its tag lines was ‘the computer for the rest of us’ – and it was designed to be used by theoretically everyone. Why was it important to include Susan Kare’s work in the exhibition? To get more insight to this small but fascinating element of the show, we spoke to curator Brendan McGetrick.
Amid that is a collection of rough sketches drawn on squared paper by Susan Kare, that show the ideation of the symbols used in the Apple interface. Amid the political posters, photographs of Burning Man, artwork for Blade Runner, LSD blotting paper and Waymo’s self-driving car, the exhibition dedicated a section to the Apple Macintosh. The Design Museum’s latest show California: Designing Freedom looks at the story arc of the US state that has gone from countercultural epicentre to innovation hub.